German

• ISBN: 978-3-7165-1885-4
• Pages: 192
• Binding: Hardcover
• Published: 9/2025
• Illustrations: no
• Dimensions: 13,5 x 21 cm

Where the war was quiet - but tangible

In the fall of 1945, the London Daily Telegraph reported: “Davos is known throughout Switzerland as Little Berlin and was the center of German conspiracy and espionage until the collapse of the Third Reich.”

Between 1939 and 1945, the fashionable health resort was more than just a spa town – it was a place of refuge, a living space, and a political arena. Around 1,500 Germans lived in the Landwasser Valley at the time, many of them members of the NSDAP. The Hitler salute and swastika flag were part of everyday life.

This autobiographical account interweaves personal memories with contemporary documents and press reports, shedding light on a largely forgotten chapter of Davos history in a multi-layered chronicle. It tells of a youth in the shadow of war – of nights spent shoveling snow in bitter cold, of carpenter’s apprentices burying the dead, and of swimming competitions on Lake Davos.

Amid encounters between villagers, refugees, and staunch National Socialists, a panorama emerges in which the great upheavals of world history are mirrored on a small scale.